Xanthohumol relieves arthritis pain in mice by suppressing mitochondrial-mediated inflammation.

Chronic pain is the most common symptom for people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and it affects approximately 1% of the global population. Neuroinflammation in the spinal cord induces chronic arthritis pain. In this study, a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice model was established through intradermally injection of type II collagen in complete Freund's adjuvant solution. Following CIA inducement, the paws and ankles of mice were found to swell, mechanical pain and spontaneous pain were induced, and their motor coordination was impaired. The spinal inflammatory reaction was triggered, which presented as severe infiltration of inflammatory cells, and the expression levels of GFAP, IL-1ß, NLRP3, and cleaved caspase-1 increased. Oxidative stress in the spinal cord of CIA mice was manifested as reduced Nrf2 and NDUFB11 expression and SOD activity, and increased levels of DHODH and Cyto-C. At the same time, spinal AMPK activity was decreased. In order to explore the potential therapeutic options for arthritic pain, Xanthohumol (Xn) was intraperitoneally injected into mice for three consecutive days. Xn treatment was found to reduce the number of spontaneous flinches, in addition to elevating mechanical pain thresholds and increasing latency time. At the same time, Xn treatment in the spinal cord reduced NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated inflammation, increased the Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response, and decreased mitochondrial ROS level. In addition, Xn was found to bind with AMPK via two electrovalent bonds and increased AMPK phosphorylation at Thr174. In summary, the findings indicate that Xn treatment activates AMPK, increases Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response, reduces Drp1-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction, suppresses neuroinflammation, and can serve to relieve arthritis pain.

Effects of propofol on malignant biological behaviors of prostate cancer DU145 cells and its mechanism / 国际肿瘤学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of propofol on malignant biological behaviors of prostate cancer DU145 cells and its possible mechanism.Methods:Control group, 5-fluorouracil group (200 ng/ml) , low-dose propofol group (100 ng/ml) and high-dose propofol group (400 ng/ml) were set up. CCK-8 kit was used to measure the level of cell proliferation, Transwell method was used to measure the abilities of cell invasion and migration, flow cytometry was used to measure the level of apoptosis, and qRT-PCR and Western blotting were used to measure hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and c-Met mRNA and protein levels.Results:The survival rates of the control group, 5-fluorouracil group, low-dose propofol group and high-dose propofol group were (83.32±3.02) %, (36.29±3.54) %, (62.01±4.69) % and (40.20±5.48) % ( F=8.65, P=0.006) ; the apoptosis rates were (2.36±0.41) %, (12.47±0.40) %, (6.28±0.39) % and (10.24±0.37) % ( F=26.73, P=0.001) . Further pairwise comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) . The numbers of penetrating membranes of the four groups were 617.45±29.86, 125.27±24.38, 407.02±32.27 and 230.74±31.59 ( F=18.33, P=0.002) ; the migration distances were (603.85±27.74) μm, (121.69±25.85) μm, (395.59±28.37) μm and (233.52±30.42) μm ( F=27.02, P=0.001) . Further pairwise comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) . HGF mRNA expression levels of the four groups were 6.26±0.39, 1.94±0.35, 4.15±0.37 and 2.90±0.33 ( F=25.31, P=0.001) ; c-Met mRNA expression levels were 5.85±0.30, 2.04±0.32, 3.89±0.31 and 2.94±0.32 ( F=12.12, P=0.003) ; HGF protein expression levels were 1.43±0.04, 0.34±0.08, 0.86±0.06 and 0.63±0.09 ( F=17.02, P=0.001) ; c-Met protein expression levels were 1.63±0.14, 0.39±0.15, 0.93±0.11 and 0.64±0.17 ( F=19.89, P=0.001) . Further pairwise comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) . Conclusion:Propofol has obvious inhibitory effects on the malignant biological behaviors of prostate cancer DU145 cells, and the inhibitory effect of high-dose propofol is more obvious. The mechanism may be related to the inhibition of HGF and c-Met mRNA and protein expressions of DU145 cells by propofol, which inhibits the activation of HGF/c-Met pathway.